Basically, dear readers, I'm still alive and so is the book. :-)

The top one is the big changes; the bottom one is the line-edit that makes sure the big changes make sense.
Looking at it this way makes me wonder why I write such long books.

1.
The revision is in.

It went in Friday afternoon actually, and I crashed the way you crash after finals - sleep-deprived, mentally exhausted, and more pleased at completing the work than at the final product of your labors. This revision was tougher than usual. With that one big change I mentioned earlier, I think I ended up rewriting about 25% of the manuscript. Sometimes, I ripped out the best bits from the old scene and threaded new material around it to make it fit. Sometimes, it was completely new.

It was worth it, though. I really believe the book flows about a thousand times better this way. I'll know for sure after my new editor takes a look.

2.
That's my other big news: I have a new editor!

Courtney Bongiolatti - the enthusiastic and astute editor, who acquired the books and ushered Of Giants and Ice into copy-editing and beyond - is leaving the industry. I was incredibly sad when I found out - Courtney loves the books SO much, and she just gets Rory; we've always been on the same page with revisions - it was hard to see her go. But at the same time, I'm absolutely delighted for her - glad she's starting this new phase of her life, and grateful she got Rory on the right track.

It also helps that my new editor - Julia Maguire - is similarly awesome. She worked with Courtney on Of Giants and Ice, and when I was too brain fried with my line edit to think of anything besides long lists of words, she and my agent Jo came up for a FANTASTIC title for The Ever Afters 2.

I'm actually not sure if I can share that title yet. Hmmmm. I'll need to check.

3.
Julia has promised to get notes to me by Monday, so revising resumes next week!

Which means two things: First, I'm hurrying to get my To-Do list done before then. Yesterday, I cleaned my apartment with the ferocity of a tornado armed with a broom and lysol bathroom spray. Today, I need to race around to printers to get some quotes on Ever Afters swag.

And secondly, I'm devouring books at an insane rate in order to recharge my creative battery.

My current TBR pile

I need the mysteries, because there's a mystery element in The Ever Afters 2 that I'm not sure I totally pulled off. I finished Janet Evanovich's One for the Money last night and enjoyed it like whoa.

I try not to read in my own genre while I'm revising, so I'm SUPER excited about the middle grade. I feel like there's been a hole in my life without it. *hugs library books*

The Ever Afters go to...SERBIA!!!!

Once upon a time - by which, I mean yesterday - I was taking a long re-plotting walk through my new neighborhood. It was not very fruitful on the plotting front, but I made an executive decision not to let it bother me.

Why?

The sun was shining.

Because it was so darn pretty outside.

And all of Portland was in bloom.

Then, I got back and found an email from Kathleen that made EVERYTHING SPARKLE WITH AWESOME:

The Ever Afters sold in Serbia!! To Alnari Publishing!!!! In a two-book deal!

Hold on for a second - I need to squee my head off.

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

Yes, this pleases me greatly. Rory, Chase, and Lena will be in such good company!! Alnari also publishes Peter and the Starcatchers, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and THE HUNGER GAMES - plus some assorted titles from Tamora Pierce, Stephen King, Salman Rushdie, Meg Cabot, and Nora Roberts.

(According to Alnari's website, author names get translated too. I mean, Stephen King and Nora Roberts are still Stephen King and Nora Roberts, but Philip Pullman becomes Filip Pulman, Suzanne Collins turns into Suzan Kolins. Cool, right?)

I can't wait to see what the Serbian cover will look like! According to Google Translate and Cruiser Dictionary, the title will look something like this:

Евер Афтерс | Ever Afters

Џинова и леда | Of Giants and Ice

Disclaimer: I don't actually speak Serbian. If you do and if you have a better translation, please comment on this post, and I'll change this!

Many thanks to Kathleen (a.k.a. the Queen of Foreign Rights), Jo, and the lovely people of Alnari Publishing!

I'm pretty sure y'all made my whole week. :-)

The Ever Afters #1 - Of Giants and Ice

You've seen the cover before, but I don't believe that I've mentioned what happens in the book.

Do you know what that means???

It's time to share the flap copy!

Happily Ever After can seem a long way off when you're waiting for your life to really begin...

Rory Landon has been known her whole life as the daughter of a famous movie star and an award-winning Hollywood director. So it is a surprise and a relief when no one at her new after-school program seems to care or even know who her parents are.

That relief quickly turns to disbelief when Rory finds herself faced with a real live fire-breathing dragon on her first day and she realizes that at Ever After School, the kids look up to a different kind of celebrity. For example Jack (as in the Beanstalk) and Snow White (like with the Seven Dwarfs) are not only real, but teaching Rory and her friends how to prepare for when their own tale begins. Never in the spotlight before, Rory is about to discover just what it means to have the starring role.

But is her tale destined for a happy ending?

Woooot!!

It's interesting - what the editor/publishing house decides to focus on when introducing the book as opposed to what I focused on in my query letter to Joanna. For me, it was all about Rory's new best friend and new worst enemy, but I suppose it did have a few spoilers in it.

So, I won't post that query letter now, I guess. I'm tempted, but no, I'll be good. :-P